Fertilizer-distributer attachment.



I No. 663,642. Patented Dec. ll, I900.

' W. A. SEARS, JR.

FERTILIZER DISTRIBUTER ATTACHMENT.

(Application filed Mar. 23, 1900.)

([40 Model.)

UNITED STATES ATENT rricn.

WILLIAM A. SEARS, JR, OF BEDFORD, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO CHARLES H. EMERY, OF SAME PLACE.

FERTILIZER-DISTRIBUTER ATTACHMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 663,642, dated December 11, 1900.

Application filed March 23, 1900. Serial No. 9,959. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known'that I, WILLIAM A. SEARS Jr. a citizen of the United States, residing at Bedford, in the county of Lawrence and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Fertilizer-Distributer Attachment, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to fertilizer-distributer attachments for cultivators or other purposes; and the object of the present invention is to improve Patent No. 626,726, granted to me June 13, 1899, and to provide a simple and more economical device of this character havinga uniform distributing operation and capable of being readily applied to any ordinary cultivator Without requiring a special construction of said cultivators to receive the improved device.

The invention consists in the construction and arrangement of the several parts, which will be more fully hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a cultivator, showing the improved fertilizer-distributer applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the hopper or containingreceptacle of the improved distributer, showing a part of the driving mechanism for operating the feeder. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section through the hopper or containing-receptacle, taken in the plane of the feeder. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of one of the wheel-hubs and a portion of two spokes, showing the manner of applying the driving-gear, thelatter beingin section. Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of a strut-brace shown broken through and employed in connection with a part of the mechanism.

Similar numerals of reference are employed to indicate corresponding parts in the several views.

The numeral 1 designatesacultivator-beam attached to a suitable axle 2, supporting a forwardly-projecting frame 3,-the said axle being provided, as usual, with ground-wheels 4 and said frame supplied with means for atapplicable to any form of cultivator or to otheranalogous implements, and only enough of the mechanism of this character has been shown as to illustrate the practical application of the improved device. It is also proposed to employ either one or more of the distributers or improved attachments in connection with a cultivator or other machine, and

as each of said devices will be similar in construction only one will be described.

The hopper or containing-reoeptacle 5 is preferably of rectangular form and provided with a bottom 6, having an opening or feed slot 7, cut or otherwise formed therethrough, the bottom around the said feed-slot being beveled, as at 8, to facilitate .the deposit of the fertilizer in the recess produced by beveling or cutting out the bottom 6, as set forth, and directing the said fertilizer toward the said feedslot. Depending from the bottom 6 and located over the feed-slot 7 is a feedchute 9 of the form shown by Figs. 2 and 3 and having a contracted neck 10, in which a controlling-slide 11 is mounted to regulate the distribution of the fertilizer, the said neck having divergently-arranged spouts 12 extending therefrom in opposite lateral directions and to which boots or analogous devices 13 are attached for delivering the fertilizer to the ground below and facilitating adistribution of the same in a more positive manner.

Within the feedslot 7 and the chute 9 a feed-wheel 14 is rotatably mounted and is provided with fiat radial blades 15, the said feedwheel being keyed or otherwise made fast on the inner extremity of a drive-shaft 15, mounted in suitable bearings 16 and having a sprocket-wheel 17 secured on the outer extremity thereof. On the said shaft 15 a col lar 18 is fixed and has an upper socket 19 in a plane at right angles thereto and to the said shaft, the said socket being supplied with a set-screw 20. This socket adj ustably receives the forward extremity of a strut-brace 21, which has a rear yoked end 22 to fit over the axle 2 inside of the wheel 4, and when the front extremity of the said brace is in the socket 19 it is held against movement by causing the set-screw 20 to impinge thereagainst. By this means the shaft 15 is held steady and against vibration and caused to occupy a substantially fixed position relative to the axle 2 take up and compensate for any irregularities or other adjustments that may be presented from time to time under different conditions. I

One of the important features of the improved attachment is the disuse of any special form of wheel-gearing, or, in other words, obviating the necessity of a special construction of gears in direct connection with a ground-wheel and to substitute therefor a gear-disk 23, having an opening 24 to fit over the outer portion of a Wheel-hub 25, and removably attached by bolts 26 to'an inner retaining-collar 27, removably applied overthe inner portion of the wheel-hub, the disk 23 and collar 27 being prevented from rotating independently of and held fast to rotate with the wheel or hub 25 by positioning the bolts 26 between pairs of spokes, and thus adapting this part of the attachment for any cultivator-wheel. The gear-disk 23 is formed with peripheral sprocket-teeth'28, and the latter and the sprocket-wheel 17 are surrounded by a sprocket chain belt 29, and thereby the motion of the wheel' 4:, for instance, is transmitted to the shaft 15 and the'feed-Wheel 14:

.thus caused to regularly rotate, with obvious advantages. If the chain belt 29 becomes slack or loose from any cause, the brace 21 can be adjusted to take up such slack, and, as before explained, the said brace will also relieve the shaft 15 of strain or drag due to the op eration of the chain belt 29 and the extended form of the said shaft.

Changesin the forms, proportions, size, and

'ininordetails may be resorted to Without departing from the principle of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is- 1. The combination with a machine having an axle and wheels supporting a frame, of a fertilizer-containing receptacle or hopper attached to said frame in advance of said axle or wheels and having feeding devices, a part of the latter being rotatable, a shaft projecting outwardly from the receptacle or hopper and connected to the rotatable feeding device, a strut-brace adjustably and removably connected to the said shaft and axle, and means for driving the said shaft.

I 2. The combination with a machine having an axle and Wheels supporting a frame, of a fertilizer-containing receptacle or hopper attached to said frame in advance of said axle and wheels and having feedingdevices, a shaft for operating a part of the said feeding devices, a strut-brace adj ustably and-removably, connected to the said shaft and axle, a gear-disk and collar removably applied to opposite portions of one of the wheel-hubs, a sprocket-Wheel on the outer extremity of the said shaft and a chain belt surrounding the said sprocket-wheel and gear-disk.

3. The combination with a machine having an axle and wheels supporting a frame, of a fertilizer-containing receptacle or hopper hav ing feeding devices at the bottomihereof including a feed-wheel, a shaft extending outwardly from the bottom-of the receptacle or hopper and operating the said feed-wheel, a sprocket-wheel on the outer extremity of the said shaft, a strut-brace adjustably and removably connected to the said shaft and axle, a gear-disk applied over the outer portion of the adjacent machine-wheel and having peripheral sprocket-teeth, a collar removably fitted over the inner portion of the said wheelhub, bolts passing between pairs of spokes and removably engaging the said geandisk and collar, and a chain belt surrounding the said gear-disk and sprocket-wheel.

4. The combination with a machine having an axle and wheels supporting a frame, of a fertilizer-containing receptacle or hopper attached to said frame in advance of said axle and wheels and having feeding devices, a shaft for operating a part of said feeding devices, a collar on the shaft having a socket in v my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM A. SEARS, JR. Witnesses:

BERT DYE, LILLIAN WIRES. 

